How to Draw Cartoon Fish (A Kid's Guide to Drawing)

Book Description

Complete Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers is packed with updated coverage and tutorials on the new features of CS2. As with the first edition, this book is designed and written especially for digital photographers. It teaches you how to organize, enhance, correct, and retouch images; how to do creative things with those images; and how to output them. Using Photoshop CS is essentially like having your own digital darkroom on your desktop, and with the help of tutorials in this book, you'll learn how to master this powerful tool. By working through these projects, you'll explore the new and enhanced areas of Photoshop, including more in depth coverage of Camera Raw and working with multiple images. Expanded coverage of Bridge is also provided. When printing your images, paper choices can be critical, so new coverage about color management and working with profiles for getting accurate prints is detailed. In addition, there is coverage of the new sharpening, noise reduction and retouching tools, and methods. We'll also dive into the Lens Warp filter for fixing crooked and warped images. To help you master these tools the book teaches you professional techniques for overcoming the many challenges you'll face and by using these techniques, you'll be able to bring out the best from any photo, while establishing an efficient workflow. If you truly want to understand and master Photoshop CS2 for digital photography, this is the resource you need.

Customer Reviews:

An Okay book for Photoshop novices.......2007-07-13

This book has a lot of good information in it, but is not well written. You may be halfway through a paragraph before you get to the topic sentence and figure out what the author is talking about. It often takes a second or third trip through a paragraph to figure out what it's about. The author also is not consistent with his word usage. I've found as many as three or four different words used for the same thing. For instance luminosity and brightness are used interchangeably, sometimes on the same page or even the same paragraph. So, using the book can be frustrating, though the author clearly knows Photoshop and I have learned a lot from the book.
The book does not mention or discuss some of the neatest features of Photoshop CS2 including some of the Automate features such as Merge to HDR (high dynamic range). This feature combines an underexposed and an overexposed picture into one high dynamic range image (bright areas are not washed out and dark areas are not black). This is an amazing capability that is not mentioned.
I would buy this book again, but only after searching diligently for one that covers the same scope or more and is better written. Actually, I'd probably get a book that covers CS3 as well, and hopefully indicates where features are unique to CS3. Or maybe just a CS3 book if you are going to upgrade. I understand the upgrade to CS3 is well worth the price even though it is now $200. Ease of use alone makes CS3 valuable to novices from what I've read.

Good Addition for Photoshop Middle Skill Users.......2007-05-21

Mr. Smith's book is well illustrated and supported by the accompanying CD (images to work with that are in the book). His explanations are clear to the Photoshop user and he does explain some terms, as in methods of cropping and re-sizing an image and which method is suited for which type of image), file formats of images, and other areas like the applications under adjustments that I had not used until I began working with the book.
I have found some techniques that are similar to other authors (Scott Kelby, in particular, whose books I have enjoyed quite a lot), and that was part of my interest in purchasing the book-to broaden my reference library with people aside from Kelby, Deke McClelland, and some folks on-line like Earth-Bound Light and Photography, etc). I recommend purchase. Readable, well cross-referenced, and helps deliver results.

Excellent.......2007-05-08

Excellent training material. I would also recomment The Photoshop CS2 Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. The combination is outstanding.

Good Book.......2007-01-20

I am an amaetuer photographer. This book has helped me fine tune my photos and bring out its full potential. I will gladly recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain more knowledge on photography and perhaps learn a very powerful photo editing tool.

[...].......2007-01-10

This book covers a lot of complex material and some details.
The explanations are generally very clear, but to get the most from it you need to work through the exercises (on CD) and probably re-read the sections that might still be a little difficult to follow.
If somebody looking for step-by-step and good tip and tricks this book probably isn't for you but you'll find a lots great tips.
If you're willing to put in some effort you'll be able to make amazing improvements to your photos. Strongly recommended.

Average customer rating:

(not to be confused with becoming a successful artist)

Alec: How to be an Artist
Eddie Campbell
Manufacturer: Top Shelf Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Alec: After The Snooter

Alec: Three Piece Suit

Alec: The King Canute Crowd

Hysteria: Or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obessional Neurosis (Methuen Modern Plays)

Sight Unseen and Other Plays

ASIN: 0957789637

Book Description

Eddie Campbell has created a graphic novel about the rise and fall of the graphic novel itself, and along the way draws potent conclusions about the very nature of art. It is a graphic novel about becoming and artist and making your way in the world as an artist. The narrative teems with established luminaries as well as `would be` artists. Many are briefly examined while a few have been made the subjects of penetrating case histories in this cavalcade of dreamers, fools and sudden millionaires.

Customer Reviews:

(not to be confused with becoming a successful artist).......2001-08-18

With other great works like Graffiti Kitchen and Alec: the King Canute Crowd, Eddie Campbell's autobiographical works are very refreshing and very unique to the comic book genre. Those that are not familiar with Eddie's works may not like his sketchy drawings but after familiarizing one's self to his works you'll see that his art is a very personal signature and works very well in his books.

In Alec: How to be an Artist, Eddie tells his story of his experiences as a comic book artist. He goes from how he first got into the business to meeting such characters as Alan Moore and also goes into how his personal life was effected: "There will come a phase in your life when you move in and out of flats so fast you're already measuring them up for a nostalgic effect on your way in." This graphic novel gives such an interesting glance at the comic book industry, and Eddie likes to "tell-all" with very personal aspects of his life that you feel very humble to be given the privilege of reading his story.(or maybe I'm just an Eddie-Campbell/ComicBook-Industry fanatic.)

Book Description

An inspiration to European film-makers and to mainstream Hollywood, US independent cinema has blossomed in the late 80s and 90s with an enormous variety of idiosyncratic and challenging cinema coming to the fore.

Sight and Sound magazine has captured much of the excitement of this vital, intelligent and often quirky cinema as it happened. This book, part of a new series of Sight and Sound Readers, combines interviews with directors, features on major genres and reviews of some of the key films released derived from the pages of the magazine. The editor Jim Hillier adopts a broad definition of US indie film including material on the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Gus van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, Rose Troche, Todd Haynes, Hal Hartley and many more besides.

Customer Reviews:

GOOD BOOK-I'd recommend it to any Mike Aulby fan.......1998-03-12

The book had a lot of good information-I think it could have gone more into depth on what it's like out on tour. How the pressure effects the players more, how they survive out there-or don't. I think alot of what was said was repeated by different people in different parts of the book-granted alot of people that deal with Mike have a lot of the same good memories, but I think there was too much repetition in some parts. I wish Mike had gone more into detail what he was feeling when he shot his first 300-I had my first this year-and I could tell you heartbeat by heartbeat what it was like. Overall I liked the book-now my 10 year old son is reading it. My family are all fans of Mike Aulby-and have met him in person.

Average customer rating:

Customers are more slick than salespeople

Secrets of Power Negotiating for Salespeople: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator

This book is amazing!!!

Simple and direct to the point

Highly Recommended!

Secrets of Power Negotiating for Salespeople: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator
Roger Dawson
Manufacturer: Career Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Negotiating | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Techniques | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Secrets of Power Negotiating

Secrets of Power Persuasion for Salespeople

Secrets of Power Persuasion: Everything You'll Ever Need to Get Anything You'll Ever Want

The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need: 101 Ways to Win Every Time in Any Situation

Start with NO...The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don't Want You to Know

ASIN: 156414500X

Book Description

In this revised and updated paperback edition, master negotiator Roger Dawson gives salespeople an arsenal of tools that can be implemented easily and immediately to enable a quantum leap in sales.

He shows salespeople how to:
* Use pressure points to control the negotiating situation.
* Downplay the importance of money.
* Ask for more than one expects to get.
* Negotiate with individuals from other cultures.
* Master the nine elements of power that control negotiating situations.
* Analyze personality styles and adapt to them.
* Master the 24 power closes.

This is not a dull, dry treatise full theory. Nor is it a handbook of tricks and scams meant to manipulate others. It is the most complete book ever written specifically for salespeople about the process of negotiation.

Customer Reviews:

Customers are more slick than salespeople.......2007-01-09

Customers have learned to get creative when giving salespeople reasons they can not buy or commit to a purchase. The people who get bombarded by salespeople have gotten the most creative. They have learned what to sale to get someone off their back. This is a great illustration of the objections you get, why you get them and how to dig even deeper to uncover the real objection. Whether you're just starting out or have been in sales for over 15 years like I have, this is a great tool for anyone who likes to keep up with the changing world of sales.

Secrets of Power Negotiating for Salespeople: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator.......2005-08-18

I am enjoying this book. I have not yet completed reading the peice, but I do think that there are very many valuable messages. ON A SIDE NOTE. THE QUALITY OF THE BOOK ITSELF IS TERRIBLE. AS I ADVANCE THROUGH THE BOOK, PAGE BY PAGE, THE BOOK IS FALLILNG APART. WHOEVER BOUND THE BOOK NEEDS TO BE CONTACTED. ANY ADVICE, AS TO HOW TO HOLD THE BOOK TOGETHER WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!

This book is amazing!!!.......2005-02-22

Dawson enlights you with all the empiric knowledge of negotiation put in this masterbook. This is a MUST for all salesman. It covers from begining negotiation to close ups.
I just started it yesterday and could not stop.
If you want to get your negotiation skills a jump-up, this is the book for you.

Simple and direct to the point.......2004-11-14

There is no framework, nor any theory; you may find many of the "tricks" are common-sense but which are we commonly overlook or neglect. A book that teaches you tactics that can be put into use right away. It is worth to read this book

Highly Recommended!.......2001-03-24

While the market is flooded with books on how to pitch, sell, wrangle and close a deal, this book rises well above most of them. Author Roger Dawson takes salespeople step by step through the economic and psychological aspects of successful negotiating. Expertly and conversationally written, and strategically structured, this book actually delivers what its title promises: plenty of secrets about power negotiating. View your job in sales as a chess game you can control because you know the rules, from the opening gambit to the power plays in the middle, to the all-important close. If you've read Dawson's Secrets of Power Negotiating, you'll find a good bit of repetition here, but even when he cites the same gambits, he discusses using them to make sales. You only need to read one of the two books, but we [...] say make it this one if you're in sales. Learn these gambits, so you can say, "Checkmate."

Book Description

Joseph Petro served for twenty-three years as a Special Agent in the U.S. Secret Service, eleven of them at the White House and four of those as the man at the shoulder of Ronald Reagan. From a junior investigator in the field to the man on whom the life of the President depended, Joseph Petros journey through the Secret Service is a singular look inside the most discreet law enforcement agency in the world and an unparalleled insight into Ronald Reagan. Joseph Petro saw Reagan at his best. He ate popcorn with the man at the private cinema on Camp David, rode horses with him on the ranch, and was one of five men in the private meeting between the President and Gorbachev at the watershed moment when the Cold War ended. Quite simply, Joseph Petro stood next to history.

Customer Reviews:

Great read.......2007-06-02

This book is well written with just enough detail to keep you in every scene. It hooked me from page 1 and kept me interested all along.

Recommended for those interested in the Reagan Era and the Secret Service.......2007-05-15

If you have any interest in the presidency of Ronald Reagan or the Secret Service, I highly recommend this book. The tone is very matter-of-fact, but what comes through is what an honorable person Joseph Petro is. He lost out on a possible N.F.L career when he was drafted for the Viet Nam War, but our country, and especially its elected officials during the time of his service, gained a great deal.

A very engaging book.

Excellent for anyone looking for more info about the Secret Service.......2007-03-14

I found this book extremely enlightening as to what life as an Agent in the USSS will be like. Petro does a wonderful job at writing about what he is allowed to disclose yet still keeping the reader engaged. If you are interested in the USSS, you should read this book during your application process since little is know about the Service.

The greatest book on the subject!.......2007-03-08

This book was very enjoyable and a easy read! Joe must have been a very good agent, (I forgive him about the Mrs. Quail incident) He is someone I would like to meet. This book is a GREAT find for anyone into politics, The White House and the Secret Service.

STANDING NEXT TO HISTORY.......2007-02-07

VERY WELL WRITTEN. ALMOST TOO EXTENSIVE BUT STILL DIDN'T WANT TO PUT IT DOWN UNTIL IT WAS FINISHED. I WAS VERY IMPRESSED; EXPECTED A "DRYER" HISTORY OF THE SECRET SERVICE. WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN OUR HISTORY AND WHAT IT TAKES TO MAINTAIN OUR DEMOCRACY.

Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service

Average customer rating:

Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service
Jeffrey Robinson Joseph Petro
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTM86G

Book Description

Culminating in a stalwart defensive fight by Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson's Virginia Brigade, this book is the story of the Confederacy's first victory. The lead up to the battle, the affair at Blackburn's Ford and the fight for Henry Hill are all covered. The author investigates the backgrounds and personalities of the principle commanders on both sides and shows how their decisions influenced the outcome of the battle. He also looks at the opposing armies and shows how the widely varying uniforms of different units caused mistakes of identity which crucially affected the eventual outcome.

Book Description

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States for his first term, and the conservative revolution that was slowly developing in the United States finally emerged in full-throated roar. Who provoked the conservative revolution? Shadia Drury provides a fascinating answer to the question as she looks at the work of Leo Strauss, a seemingly reclusive German Jewish emigrÃ© and scholar who was one of the most influential individuals in the conservative movement, a man widely seen as the godfather of the Republican party's failed "Contract With America." Among his students were individuals such as Alan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind. Strauss influenced the work of Irving Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb and William Kristol, as well as Chief Justice Clarence Thomas and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Drury delves deeply into Strauss's work at the University of Chicago where he taught his students that, if they truly loved America, they must save her from her fateful enchantment with liberalism. Leo Strauss and the American Right is a fascinating piece of work that anyone interested in understanding our current political situation will want to read.

Customer Reviews:

Review of a review.......2006-08-18

Since I haven't read the book yet I can't submit a review of it (since the average rating is 3 stars that is what I've assigned it so as to upset the balance as little as possible). However I feel compelled to respond to the review by "Advanced Atheist" (the phrase itself an oxymoron). He cites the "increasingly Atheistic populations of Western Europe" as evidence that "advanced societies can function well without religion". I don't know where he gets his information but he is not even remotely aware of what is occuring across the Atlantic in the 21st century. Western Europe my friend is a dying civilization experiencing a birth dearth. The increasingly aging population is not producing enough children to support its society and therefore is relying more and more on immigration (from primarily Muslim lands) to run the country when the the workers retire. As the Muslims vote in ever increasing numbers it is only a matter of time before government favors their ideas on how a society should function. The reason the "advanced societies" of Europe are not having any children can be boiled down to the wide use of contraception, abortion, and radical individualism. The Muslims on the other hand are not decadent and are very familty oriented, having many children. Experts give Europe roughly another 50 - 100 years before its civilization is changed beyond recognition. In short my "advanced" friend Europe, as we know it, is doomed. In America the situation is better but not by much. Only time will tell whether we join Europe in the dustbin of history.
"The fool says in his heart there is no God". Proverbs.

Warning: This will keep you awake at night.......2005-08-22

A readable and scary review of Strauss' philosophy and how it influences neo-conservative thoughts and actions. I could not put it down.
It is hard to believe this was written in 1999. It is consistent with everything we have seen and suspected since the 2000 election. What we see today in the missing John Roberts documents. Yesterday in the Downing Street memos. And tomorrow in ...
Do you wonder why Jewish and Catholic neo-cons support a born-again President? Why born-again evangelicals support Israel? Because the philosopy of Strauss is for only a few chosen individuals to be educated and know what is going on, to lie to the rest of us, and to use religion (any religion will do) as a vehicle to rally the masses.

Strauss as Philosopher or Demigogue?.......2005-07-11

The tendentious nature of this book, the fact that it is a politically charged polemic as opposed to a philosophic critique of a thinker, relegates this book to the myriad of yearly right and left wing fodder that we see on the book shelves. Strauss's thought, is first extremely learned, and secondly complex and subtle. If only this author had approached Strauss's texts with the humility and dedication that Strauss himself had brought to the likes of Plato, Machiavelli, and Locke, we might begin to tease out a very different portrait of the man that is found in this book. While Struass's thought my have been possible to interpret as synonymous with the agend of the likes of Newt Gingrich, it does not stand to reason that Strauss would have accented to their interpretation of his teaching. To claim that Strauss had, " no use for liberalism and little use for democracy" appears to be nothing short of academic dishonesty. Strauss if he is to be read for what he said very well understood the historical and natural implications of liberal democracy as the most just regime of mankind. And after leaving what was Hitler's Germany, a Jew and intellectual, Strauss knew very precisely the oppostunities afforded to him in the American landscape.

The Atheists in the White House.......2004-07-30

I have a somewhat different take on this book than the other reviewers. I am struck by the idea that the Straussians neoconservatives, who have seized strategic positions in the U.S. Government and the Republican Party, fundamentally agree with the Secular Humanists about the nature of religion (i.e., that there's no god out there to rapture us away, much less lecture us about right and wrong). They just disagree with the Humanists about the advisability of telling ordinary people the truth, pretending instead that increasingly absurd and delusional christian beliefs like the ones promoted by the Left Behind novels are worthy of respect, as long as christians who hold such fantasies vote Republican. (By contrast, UFO cultists who promote similar scenarios about mass alien abductions are ridiculed.) In other words, Neocons view religion as a useful tool for keeping the rabble in line, including the unsophisticated religious politicians who support their agenda.

I find this crypto-Atheism contemptible, though also complimentary in a back-handed way. Intelligent people in many times and places have arrived at Atheism by following their own inquiries into the nature of reality. Strauss and his followers just add further support to the legitimacy of the Atheist discovery, though their systematic dishonesty about it has led to harmful consequences in the real world. The increasingly Atheistic populations of Western Europe, where even American christians readily visit for vacation, show that advanced societies can function well without religion, empirically falsifying the Straussian prejudice that the sheep need superstitions while their shepherds can handle Atheism.

Postmodern Conservativism.......2003-01-04

The chief insight offered by Shadia Drury in LEO STRAUSS AND THE AMERICAN RIGHT is that Leo Strauss's political philosophy is a radical variant of conservatism whose assumptions and strategies are at odds with traditional conservatism. While both Straussian and Burkean philosophy appear similar in that they both make the assumption that the only choice is between a beneficent plutocracy and anarchy, the Straussians are unsentimental about the past, rejecting the older conservative view that naturalizes pre-modern hierarchy and the inequalities preserved therein as intrinsic to and representative of mankind. Straussians are instead post-modern activists, who use the past as repository from which to cull whatever elements are necessary to build whatever institutional machine is necessary to regulate lesser mortals. They imagine themselves as an intellectual pastorate who must defend society against the depredations of liberalism -- that socially disruptive idea which insists on equality of opportunity and justice.

According to Drury, Strauss's philosophy accepts the death of God, (unlike traditional conservatism) and then moves positivistically (unlike traditional conservatism) to fill the vacuum with elite group of self-elected philosopher kings. This elite, alive to the nihilism of the liberal ethos and its potentially anarchic consequences, believes it must act forcefully to paper over the hole left by His demise. Their esoteric/exoteric readings of philosophy tell them they must forge from the ashes a seamless, monocultural machine to encourage obedience and staunch chaos. This nationalistic machine must be equipped with a religion (any religion) and a mythic culture based on flag-reverence and knee-jerk patriotism. This is necessary because pluralistic, liberal societies cannot meet the challenge posed by well-organized, culturally cohesive states. Because the mass of men are primitive, credulous, prone to error and evil, the state with the best machine necessarily will win. Straussians, unlike traditional conservatives who see the state as malevolent, justify their activism by insisting that as philosophers they are immune to temptations of power.

According to Drury, a particularly striking strategy of Straussian conservatives is their struggle to identify and mythologize American traditions. She points out that while Burke had the last remnants of feudalism to extol as a naturally just system, American conservatives have been forced to create a ?traditional? America out of whole cloth. To do so, according the Drury, Strauss's followers have invaded history departments across the US where they have been working hard to uncover "tradition" in the beginnings of America ? a difficult task given that America was the first truly modernist state. Nevertheless, these historians, depending upon which ax they are grinding, rewrite American history either to prove that colonial America was feudal, or to prove the Founding Fathers were not Deists and creatures of the (Liberal) Enlightenment, but rather Platonists. Drury notes that like postmodernists on the left, Straussians believe there is no ultimate truth, but that instead there are only discourses of power and that whoever controls the discourse wins. She notes that this is what makes American politics so narrow and so tedious -- the right and the left both operate from the same morally bankrupt premise.

This goes a long way toward explaining the bizarre combination of libertarianism and fundamentalism in neo-conservative thought. Like other dogmas which have been used to support those in power -- Social Darwinism and eugenics come to mind -- neoconservatism is just the latest apologia for the up-to-date reactionary. Notably, its adherents are generally unaware of the contradiction. This does not deter them from defending this instrumental hodgepodge of Ayn Rand "objectivism" and millenarian "revivalism" however. Such a philosophy is, of course, its own best self-satirization.

Book Description

The teachings of political theorist Leo Strauss (1899–1973) have recently received new attention, as political observers have become aware of the influence Strauss’s students have had in shaping conservative agendas of the Bush administration—including the war on Iraq. This provocative book examines Strauss’s ideas and the ways in which they have been appropriated, or misappropriated, by senior policymakers.

Anne Norton, a political theorist trained by some of Strauss’s most famous students, is well equipped to write on Strauss and Straussians. She tells three interwoven narratives: the story of Leo Strauss, a Jewish German-born émigré, who carried European philosophy into a new world; the story of the philosophic lineage that came from Leo Strauss; and the story of how America has been made a moral battleground by the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, Leon Kass, Carnes Lord, and Irving Kristol—Straussian conservatives committed to an American imperialism they believe will usher in a new world order.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful and thrilling book, not for everyone.......2006-09-17

For me this book is wonderful and thriling, without question. I only wish it could educate the mass public.

Although very well written, the material will appeal mostly to a well educated reader and/or an intelligent person willing to grapple with a bit of political philosophy.

So the book is intelligent; anything else? It is a lot of fun, at least for someone like myself - long-ago a political science professor, who took one course (Cornell) with a Straussian disciple. Ms. Norton was a grad student at the Univ. of Chicago and had numerous encounters with many of the main figures in the Struassian camp (grad school was as close to boot camp as most of them ever came). She knew them without their rhetorical clothes, so to speak, and where they did not have the protection of high office and public relations staff.

What's a major "take home message" in this book? The so-called neo-conservatives are not conservative in any historically meaningful sense of the term. Also, they are dangerous ideologues (my opinion as well as the author's).

Outing the neocons.......2006-08-25

Anne Norton's quirky, edgy account of the followers of Leo Strauss who became today's influential neoconservatives is both comprehensive and disturbing. Not only are they inclined to war and antagonistic towards women and other minorities (not to mention racist) they have also demeaned and bebased the classical conservative legacy of Burke. Be very afraid!

A Classic.......2006-03-27

This is a wonderful book, written with eloquence and honesty. Although the book says more about Straussians than it does about Strauss, it does make clear how much the current breed of neoconservatives have grossly distorted his philosophy. I was particularly pleased by the discussion of Allan Bloom. So many of my progressive friends found his book "The Closing of the American Mind" praiseworthy that I wondered if I had missed something of value in his book.

Professor Norton is to be praised for this classic work.

Tracing Strauss's influence.......2005-10-11

Norton's book is a an attempt to trace the influence of Strauss and Straussianism in the U.S. Academy and in the imperialist politics that govern the new U.S. interventionism abroad. It is a refreshing, immensely readable account of the legacy that Leo Strauss's thought and work has had over the course of the past 40-50 years. Unlike other commentators, Norton does not diabolicize Strauss, yet nonetheless points to the aspects of his thought that opened it up to the conservative and neo-conservative embrace. She demonstrates how Strauss's thought (and other conservative thinkers) have been instrumentalized and transformed by the neoconservative revolution and its hegemonic project.

Is book about Strauss or attacking Bush's War on Terror?.......2005-07-25

Perhaps Anne Norton really is an expert on Leo Strauss. She writes well and throws out a lot of names. But half way through the book, the reader realizes that her interest in Strauss is secondary to her interest in, and dislike of, the Bush War on Terror. By the end, it is apparent that Ms. Norton feels that the War on Terror is being fought by the United States on behalf of Israel.
If you share her conviction that the Neo-conservatives, descended from Strauss, have hijacked U.S. foreign policy on behalf of Israel, read the book. It is well written and makes the conspiracy case about as well as possible. If you just want to learn more about Strauss, try a different book.

Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism

Average customer rating:

very good book on conservative theory

Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism
Robert Devigne
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political Parties | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy (The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought)

ASIN: 0300055943

Book Description

This book is a balanced and rigorous comparative study of the new conservative political thought in Britain and America. Robert Devigne thoroughly investigates conservatism`s intellectual roots and analyzes in particular the work of the British political philosopher Michael Oakeshott, the American Leo Strauss, and their followers, exploring how conservative thought is responding to the challenge of postmodernism and to the pervasive loss of civil traditions, morality, and authority in contemporary societies.

Customer Reviews:

very good book on conservative theory.......2004-08-03

While I am only a little way into this book, it is very good so far. I know a fair bit about Hayek ond Oakeshott already, but I am learning something new on every page. I am expecting the discussion of Strauss to be good too. The books seems very useful in putting H and O in the context of post WWII theoretical debates in the UK, which it is hard for Americans to get their arms around. Oakeshott is difficult to get through, especially the longer works. A good summary is very useful. The tone of the book is academic and not at all ideologically fired up. It seems the writer may be a student of Richard Flathman, who is a quite distinguished political theorist. The constrasts of Hayek and Oakeshott are also thoughtful and quite useful. Already, I find myself having a clearer view of American neo-cons, who make more sense as a kind of British style conservative rather than anything clearly in the American tradition. The academic writing style is not flashy, but it is very clear.

If you're interested in things conservative, visit therightcoast.blogspot.com.

Revolt Against Modernity: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Search for a Postliberal Order

Average customer rating:

Good Stuff
Ted V. McAllister's account of Machiavelli and Plato.

Revolt Against Modernity: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Search for a Postliberal Order
Ted V. McAllister
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0700607404

Book Description

Eric Voegelin and Leo Strauss are two of the most provocative and durable political philosophers of this century. Ted McAllister's superbly written study provides the first comprehensive comparison of their thought and its profound influence on contemporary American conservatism.

Since the appearance in the 1950s of Strauss's Natural Right and History and Voegelin's Order and History, conservatives like Russell Kirk, Irving Kristol, and Allan Bloom have increasingly turned to these thinkers to support their attacks on liberalism and the modernist mindset.

Like so many conservatives, Strauss and Voegelin rebelled against modernity, amorality--personified by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche--and its promotion of individualism and materialism over communal and spiritual responsibility. While both disdained the reductionist "conservative" label, conservatives nevertheless appropriated their philosophy, in part because it restored theology and classical tradition to the moral core of civil society.

For both men, modernity's debilitating disorder revealed surprising and disturbing relations among liberal, communist, and Nazi ideologies. In their eyes, modernity's insidious virus, so apparent in the Nazi and communist regimes, lies incubating within liberal democracy itself.

McAllister's thorough reevaluation of Strauss and Voegelin expands our understanding of their thought and restores balance to a literature that has been dominated by political theorists and disciples of Strauss and Voegelin. Neither reverential nor dismissive, he reveals the social, historical, political, and philosophical foundations of their work and effectively decodes their frequently opaque or esoteric thinking.

Well written and persuasively argued, McAllister's study will appeal to anyone engaged in the volatile debates over liberalism's demise and conservatism's rise.

This book is part of the American Political Thought series.

Customer Reviews:

Good Stuff.......2000-01-13

McAllister really seems to understand Strauss, which is more than can be said about many who write about Strauss (scholars and otherwise). This will serve as a useful antidote. And of course, Voegelin has long been neglected, so any work treating him seriously is a welcome addition. This should be in the library of serious political theorists.

Ted V. McAllister's account of Machiavelli and Plato........1998-05-10

In having Dr. Ted V. McAllister as my Western and American Heritage Professor at Hillsdale College,I was able to fully appreciate his historical views on a personal basis. His knowledge of Niccolo Machiavelli and modernity, and the philosophy of Plato relating to Western history is unparalled. His views in his book are presented in a true and indepth fashion. After being his student for two semesters, I will truely miss his insight and knowledge pertaining to historical matters.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books